Question

In what way do kinetochore microtubules facilitate the process of splitting the centromeres? they phosphorylate the centromere, thereby changing its conformation. they slide past each other like actin microfilaments. they create tension by pulling toward opposite poles. they use motor proteins to hydrolyze the centromere at specific arginine residues.

Answer 1

The answer is ‘they create tension by pulling toward opposite poles’. Kinetochores change between persistent phases of movement towards the pole (poleward) or inversed (anti-poleward), which are coupled with alternating states of kMTs (kinetochore microtubules) depolymerization and polymerization, respectively. A low tension at kinetochores promotes change towards kMTs depolymerization, and high tension promotes change towards kMTs polymerization.